User talk:Aleal
Muppet Magazine Are you sure that Frederick R. Newman is the same Fred Newman? — Scott (talk) 22:59, 1 November 2006 (UTC) :Yes. First, you'd already created a Frederick R. Newman redirect, based on his name as billed in the Wonder Woman redirect. Secondly, his book Mouthsounds was published in several older reditions under the name "Frederick R. Newman." There's the fact that he worked with Mark Saltzman on the Muppet Show on Tour (and we know *that* from Nate's playbill which included a photo as well as bio as proof), and Saltzman worked on Muppet Magazine, which further suggested the likelihood. And finally, here's a passage from the presskit bio for Doug's First Movie: "He served as a consultant for the Children's Television Workshop and for Jim Henson Productions, and wrote a Muppets musical that toured internationally." All in all, if it turns out another Frederick R. Newman was doing writing and serving as consulting editor on Muppet projects at the same time, I'd be pretty darned surprised. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 23:07, 1 November 2006 (UTC) ::Oh yeah. I forgot about the Wonder Woman book connection. Now I remember researching it at the time -- I must have misplaced my brain today. — Scott (talk) 23:22, 1 November 2006 (UTC) week off and Bernie book Nice work on Hitch -- do come back ASAP! Also, I'll see what I can dig up in the Bernie book. — Scott (talk) 04:20, 31 October 2006 (UTC) Gorilla My Dreams I wasn't around when you posted it, so I forgot to tell you how absolutely floored I am by the brilliance of the Gorilla Suits article. I just can't say enough good things about it. It's smart, it's funny, it's painstakingly comprehensive. "The art of gorilla impersonation" is a wonderful phrase. The photos are incredible. The "connections" section is hilarious. It's a classic Andrew article. You amaze me. -- Danny (talk) 01:13, 31 October 2006 (UTC) :It wasn't easy, believe me! I'd been wanting to write about it, since I realized Time Piece and The Cube both had them, but it took me awhile to gather the pictures. The discovery of a "Gorilla Men" website compelled me to finish it in time for halloween. And yeah, the fact that Henson people spent time playing roles like "Katie the Gorilla" or "Primate Performer" is pretty darn amusing. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 01:15, 31 October 2006 (UTC) Dragnet Beat me to it -- I've been eyeballing that one for a few days now, and just clicked over to fill it in. Nice job! -- Wendy (talk) 02:12, 29 October 2006 (UTC) :Yeah, that was my own little strip of territory. I love filling in old-time radio related stuff, but I've had other personal and Wiki priorities, and I wanted a nice screengrab first. Russia is also on my list (I've got an image of Jim Henson and Kathryn Mullen performing Kermit and Piggy in Moscow, but I'm trying to double check exact details of the event and so on). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 02:21, 29 October 2006 (UTC) Jim's Memorial I was unsure at first, but I think we should really do it, actually. There are a lot of rumors floating around about what people like to call "Jim's Funeral," and I can't tell you how many times I've corrected the term to Memorial. To justify, it was a public event, and I've heard it may have even been broadcast. That last part I'm not sure about, but working on an article would help us figure it out. I think it would be a good way to put a lot of rumors to rest. In fact, it should be in category:Rumors. — Scott (talk) 19:22, 28 October 2006 (UTC) :Yeah, I agree. I'm not quite sure how to go about it just yet, but it's a good idea to start gathering facts and details so we can cover it tastefully and accurately. I just uploaded the image I mentioned, see above (there's another one of Big Bird singing "Bein' Green.") Here's the caption for the image: "Muppeteers ended the memorial service for Jim Henson by singing a medley of children's songs and waving two dozen muppets at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City on May, 21, 1990. (AP Photo/Mary Bloom)." No identifications, but most of them are obvious. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 19:33, 28 October 2006 (UTC) ::I don't think it was "broadcast" per se, but parts of it were aired on newscasts. -- Danny (talk) 01:08, 31 October 2006 (UTC) :::Wasn't it aired in full on PBS? Scooter ::::Not as far as I know. But I guess this is why it's good to have a rumors page where everything can get straightened out. -- Danny (talk) 02:50, 31 October 2006 (UTC) Humbug A Christmas Carol looks great -- nice work! I just added a picture and another reference. — Scott (talk) 01:03, 27 October 2006 (UTC) :Thanks! I honestly hadn't realized how weak that page was until now. And I have a nifty connections list planned. Off the top of my head, Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, and George C. Scott have all played Scrooge, Michael Hordern was Marley twice, and Mickey Mouse was Bob Cratchit. I should probably add in part of Oscar's quote about Scrooge in the Sesame Street Christmas book. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 01:11, 27 October 2006 (UTC) Superman again Incidentally, do you know who provides the voice? — Scott (talk) 01:02, 25 October 2006 (UTC) :I was waiting until I could see the sketch to confirm. It's generally assumed that it's Clayton "Bud" Collyer, who played him on the radio, in the 40s shorts, and 60s series. However, it actually sounds a bit more like Lennie Weinrib (who also voiced the Joker in the Batman segment). I'd need to get a sample from the 60s series (which could take a little while, but isn't impossible; it was on video everywhere for awhile) to confirm whether it's just voice aging or another actor. So I'd say leave it blank for now. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 01:14, 25 October 2006 (UTC) ::You da man :) — Scott (talk) 01:24, 25 October 2006 (UTC) Today on Muppet Wiki Since Danny's not doing it anymore, I vote we just move it back to the shorter way we were doing it before. I really don't feel like re-writing and/or summarizing an article every day. I'm lazy. — Scott (talk) 17:26, 23 October 2006 (UTC) :Yeah, that's the exact problem Peter and I encountered. And then I felt a prickling sensation around my skull (seriously), and gave up and laid down. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 17:29, 23 October 2006 (UTC) ::I caught us up to today (as I saw no one else was going to do it). I don't know how Danny did it daily (or daily-ish); they are not as easy to do as he made it look (especially when doing a week's worth at once). I too am lazy. If no one is going to helm it regularly I think it should switch over to a shorter (easier) format so any lazy admin could do it... although doing 18 more days in out the longer form would allow us to say we did it for 100-days. In the end it's the admins call as the burden is really yours to complete. -- Brad D. (talk) 05:41, 25 October 2006 (UTC) Thelma Thumb Ooh, thanks to your inclusion on superheroes, I just saw this. I've never seen any of these films -- can you be more specific as to how superhero-y she was, or was it just the phone booth thing? I'm particularly interested in what ways she would go about discussing pre-science topics. — Scott (talk) 01:33, 17 October 2006 (UTC) :Well, after much digging, the good news is we finally have film evidence about her. The bad news is, it's in Dutch! You can see it here. But based on my research and what can be inferred just by the visuals in that clip, the superhero elements are the following: secret identity, use of a magic phrase (akin to "Shazam!") to transform into alter-ego, the ability of flight and size changing (the latter akin to countless characters, like Marvel's Ant-Man), and the fact that the transformation into Thelma Thumb isn't just a madcap quirk, but like with Super Grover, performed only to help people or solve problems (in the Dutch clip, she steers a run-away boxcar racer to safety and up a hill). The "pre-science" bit isn't obvious to me from the clip, but that's how it's marked in the collections guide CTW archives at the University of Maryland (I've not been to the university yet, alas, but have been able to pick up quite a few things just from the dates and summary in that list, like for example, the fact that there were complaining letters when Margaret Hamilton appeared on Sesame Street). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 01:43, 17 October 2006 (UTC) ::That all sounds fantastic. I would love to watch those films with my daughter. Science and superheroes are big hits with us. — Scott (talk) 01:48, 17 October 2006 (UTC) It's a Wonderful Life ...makes me SO HAPPY. You're awesome. And you should know that it's my favorite movie of all time :) — Scott (talk) 00:35, 17 October 2006 (UTC) :Thanks! I'm pretty fond of the movie myself, though I haven't re-watched it in a couple of years (Sheldon Leonard: "I'm givin' angels their wings!"), since I have less time for movie watching when home for the holidays, and priorities for my dad and I are The Muppet Christmas Carol and The Lemon Drop Kid (and with my mom usually, though sometimes every other year rather than annually, Peter Ustinov and Bogart in We're No Angels), with anything else secondary depending on opportunity and mood. I was just waiting on an image before creating the Wonderful Life page, and later on, I can probably expand further on the Merry Muppet Christmas Movie parallels (Fozzie compared to Uncle Billy, Miss Piggy and Donna Reed both ending up as spinsters, etc.) -- Andrew Leal (talk) NPR Hey, I saw that you started adding some radio appearances. Here are some other ones (from NPR), I'd add the to the wiki myself but don't time or energy right now. I just thought I'd pass them along all these links from my bookmarks to your talk page. *August 30, 1998 Weekend Edition, Cheryl Henson http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/980830.wesun.07.ram *May 10, 2003 Weekend Edition, Brian Henson http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1259047 * April 7, 2004 The Tavis Smiley Show, Kevin Clash & Elmo http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1816191 *May 4, 2006 All Things Considered, On the set of "Talk, Listen, Connect" http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5383607 *April 27, 2006 Talk of the Nation, Caroll Spinney http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5366672 *August 11, 2006 All Things Considered, Abby Cadabby http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5638389 Do with them as you please. -- Brad D. (talk) 04:16, 16 October 2006 (UTC) :I have another from All Things Considered -- May 16, 1996, Linda Wertheimer interviews Miss Piggy about In the Kitchen with Miss Piggy. There's a transcript in MuppetZine #17. :Do you want to have separate pages for Morning Edition, Weekend Edition and All Things Considered, or combine them into one page? -- Danny (talk) 10:31, 16 October 2006 (UTC) ::I wasn't quite sure, actually. I went ahead and did Morning Edition, since that seemed to have the most (and I had an image for it), plus I wasn't sure if a general NPR page for these would become unwieldy. On the other hand, in addition to all airing on the same network, they're fairly interchangeable. Maybe one page for the catch-all NPR news shows, while things like Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! and The Tavis Smiley Show, which are more distinct, get their own pages. I've also got a BBC Film Programme entry (interviewing Eddie Izzard and John Stephenson about Five Children and It) and a Chicago Public Radio interview (apparently *not* transmitted via NPR) with David Rudman. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 14:56, 16 October 2006 (UTC) Carmen Miranda Okay, here's a present for you -- pictures of Rita Moreno as Carmen Miranda with the Mutations in a production number from The Muppets Go Hollywood. I don't know if you want to do anything with that, but I can only imagine what you might get up to. -- Danny (talk) 15:24, 14 October 2006 (UTC) :Carmen Miranda! Apart from being an amusing potential link if we ever bring up Miranda rights, I'm sure I can find something to do with it. This indeed makes me happy. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 15:36, 14 October 2006 (UTC) ::That is so hot. — Scott (talk) 02:01, 15 October 2006 (UTC) Looney Tunes Don't know if you'd seen the new image addition yet... — Scott (talk) 18:49, 13 October 2006 (UTC) :I had, actually, just hadn't mentioned it to you yet (I'm working from a NetFlix rental of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles right now; oh the things we do for Wiki, and for Kevin Clash channeling Yoda mixed with Pat Morita). It looks great now! I'm pretty sure there's a Farscape reference somewhere too. I also love the way you connected "Money" to both Mel Blanc *and* Stan Freberg. I need to add Mel to that, and with all the revivals and stuff, there's some more Looney connections I'm sure, if I look hard enough. Which you know I do. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 18:52, 13 October 2006 (UTC) wormlids I just noticed this -- awesome! — Scott (talk) 04:20, 12 October 2006 (UTC) :Indeed! Sleepy Slimey is so cute. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 13:26, 12 October 2006 (UTC) Andrew's talk archive *Muppet Wiki Talk Archives